BORN AND RAISED in Salt Lake City, Utah, Jami Lynn Saunders may not be old enough to drink, but she can write most young authors under the table. Writing since the tender age of nine, she now has 10 years of solid experience under her belt. After receiving repetitive rejection letters in her attempts to publish her teen romance novels (and often told that there "isn't a market for it"), she decided to take a different route following a conversation with 711 Press co-owner Jaime Vendera. His advice? "Rent a ton of movies and use the inspiration to write a series in the genre of whichever movies you love the most." After two weeks of steady Netflix streaming and Redbox runs, she rekindled her love of dark, apocalyptic horror films.

Among her favorite movies of inspiration included the Resident Evil series, Mad Max, Pumpkin Head, I am Legend, Underworld, The Lost Boys, and Dawn of the Dead. A hundred movies in, she managed to plumb the depths of her imagination, bringing forth the idea for her forthcoming WerecatSaga, which was quickly picked up by 711 Press. The Werecat Saga features three books: Feral, Rabid, and Nocturnal. In her first full-fledged apocalyptic saga, Jami creates a world like no other, full of humans and creatures such as Ferals and the Werecats, creatures born out of a biological fallout that nearly wiped out all civilization. Focusing on "werecats" was a way for her to honor some of her favorite movies, while seperating her stories from the typical vampire/werewolf/zombie fare.

The werecat was a creature brought to fruition when she fell in love with Nastassja Kinski's character in the 1982 film, Cat People. Combining the premise of the cat people with the werewolves of The Howling and Underworld, a unique species was born, which was a creature possessing a human mind and gifted with the ability to morph into a cat-like creature.

Jami plans to continue writing and expanding her cast of unique monsters and characters for years to come. Who knows, you may even see a few teen romances from her as well. . . .